Culinary Disasters

Sealing chicken or fish in parchment paper has been around for ages and is in no hurry to go anywhere.  It still thrives in the realm of haute cuisine and is a big fan of dieters since no extra fat has to be added (I like to add butter to mine since the word diet is a cussword around my house).  It is an amazing way to cook since the parchment paper seals everything letting all the flavors blend together.

This is also a great way to deal with picky eaters (especially vegeterian friends).  Each person gets their own package with what they like or don’t like in it so you don’t have to compromise the flavors you like because someone does not like mushrooms.  Plus it is pretty impressive when you open the package at the table in front of the person. 

Be creative and chose flavors you enjoy but make sure to size vegetables accordingly.  If you like carrots use baby carrots or julienne regular carrots so they cook quicker along with tougher vegetables.  Potatoes slice into 1/4 inch pieces.  I like my vegetables to have a bite to them and if you prefer mushier texture you might want to boil them for a couple of minutes to soften them up. 

Also, the protein you chose to use is going to dictate how long it will be in the oven.  A standard thickness of salmon filet will take about 20 minutes but some thinner fishes maybe done in 5-10 minutes. 

For my salmon I went with:

• 1 1/2 lb salmon filet
• 3 slices of lemon
• Good handful of chopped dill (about 1/4 cup)
• 2 sprigs of thyme
• 1 shallot thinly sliced
• 1 clove of garlic thinly sliced
• 2 red potatoes sliced 1/4 inch thick
• 1 roma tomato sliced 1/2 inch thick
• 1/4 cup of baby carrots
• Juice from 1/2 of a lemon 
• 1/2 cup of white wine 
• Kosher salt and black pepper
• 2 TB of unsalted butter

Preheat your oven to 400 degrees

The tricky part is actually dealing with the parchment paper.  Take a good size piece of parchment paper (about 3 feet long) and fold it in half.  Remembering back to your grade school days cut into a heart shape.  Lay out the heart shape and you might have to use something to keep the ends from rolling back up.  If you want to cheat just rip off a rectangle piece of aluminium foil.

Lay the salmon in the middle of the heart and salt and pepper the salmon.  Place the dill and lemon on top of the salmon filet.

Place the rest of the ingredients over top of that with the exception of the white wine.

Now this part is tricky and if you decided to cheat and use aluminium foil your life is a lot easier since you can just fold over and seal very easily.  One way to seal up the parchment paper is take one side and bring it over the fish.  Fold the other side over and crimp.  Another way is to fold over and use a stapler to staple everything together.  Finally, my favorite way which is start to do the first way and then curse and force it all together so it is sealed.  Right before you fully seal it up pour the white wine into the pouch.

Place the package in the oven for 20 minutes.  When done remove the oven.  You can either open up the package and transfer to another serving bowl or put on a plate and open it up at service time.

Serve and enjoy!

Tags: fish, Healthy, All //